Process of securing welding cables to terminals



Oct- 8, 1957 F. S. WRI-:FORD 2,808,639

PRocEss oF sEcURING WELDING CABLES' To TERMINALS Original Filed Feb. l1, 1948 United States Patent O PRCESS F SECURlNG WELDING CABLES T0 r[ERMINALS Frederick S. Wreford, deceased, late of Detroit, Mich., by Annie A. M. Wreford, executrix, Detroit, Mich., assigner, by mesne assignments, to Gar Wood Industries, Inc., Wayne, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Original application February 11, 1948, Serial No. 7,597, now Patent No. 2,691,691, dated October 12, 1954. Divided and this application August 17, 1953, Serial No. 374,635

3 Claims. V(Cl. 29-155.55)

This invention relates to welding cables andin particular to a process of making the same.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved process of 'uniting welding cable conductors to their terminals within the terminal heads wherein solder is applied to the ends of the conductors while these are pressed into contact with the terminals in the presence of heat sulicient to melt the solder and unite the conductor to the terminal, a cooling medium being applied to prevent the heating of the conductor material such as copper, above its annealing temperature, such annealed copper strands tending to fail prematurely during use.

This application is a `division of co-pending application Serial No. 7,597 tiled February 1l, 1948 for Welding Cable Assembly, which has since become U. S. Patent No. 2,691,691 of October l2, 1954.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in central longitudinal section through a welding cable according to a preerred `form of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a cross-section through the welding cable terminal head taken along the line 2-2 in Figure l and showing the cooling liquid inlet and outlet connections;

Figure 3 is a cross-section along the line 2%*3 of Figure l, showing the manner in which the conductor ends are secured to the terminals within the terminal heads;

Figure 4 is a cross-section through the welding cable along the line 4-4 in Figure 1, showing the arrangement, spacing and insulation of the conductor banks within the cable;

Figure 5 is a central longitudinal section through a modied welding cable having flexible conduits for cooling liquid arranged within the conductor banks;

Figure 6 is a cross-section along'the line 6 6 in Figure 5, showing the cooling liquid conduits; and

Figure 7 is a side elevation of a portion of the welding cablesv shown in Figures 1 to 6 inclusive illustrating the manner in which the cable is connected to the external cooling liquid conduits.

Hitherto, in welding cables made of banks of iinely stranded twisted conductors, much difficulty has arisen in properly cooling the conductors and also in protecting them from breakage of the strands and consequent carrying of the strand splinters into positions where they clog the cooling action of the cooling liquid. It has also been found diicult, hitherto, to properly unite the ends ot the conductor banks to the terminals and at the same time properly provide for the circulation of the cooling liquid.

The present invention provides a welding cable wherein the welding conductors are formed of banks of line Wire strands and which are spaced apart from one another on opposite sides of an insulating barrier so that the cooling liquid can flow around and between the conductor banks and also from one side of the insulating ice barrier to the other. The breakage of the strands at the terminal heads is minimized by curving the terminals in an outwardly-dared direction at the locations where the welding conductors emerge from their points of connection to the terminals. These connections are made by forcibly pressing bridge portions Within the terminal head rmly against the ends of the welding conductors while subjecting them to heat in the presence of solder, thereby also providing passageways for the cooling liquid past the ends of the welding conductors. A modification of the invention shown in Figures 5 and 6 further provides flexible conduits for cooling liquid arranged within the welding conductors, these ilexible conduits having walls which are freely traversed by the cooling liquid but which are impervious to the penetration of splinters of the wire strands of the cable, thereby preventing clogging of the cooling system by such strands.

Referring to the drawings in detail, Figure l shows a welding cable, generally designated 10, according to one form of the invention and having terminal heads or cable heads, -generally designated 11 and 12 (Figure 7) at opposite ends thereof. The terminal heads 11 and 12 are of similar construction, hence a description of one will suiiice for both. The terminal head 11 is connected to a cooling liquid supply line 13 from which a branch supply line 14 runs to a conventional welding gun (not shown) which is electrically connected to the cable terminal head 11, a liquid return line 15 being connected between the welding gun and the terminal head 1.1. The terminal head 12 at the opposite end of the cable 10 is provided with a cooling liquid discharge line 16 which interconnects the opposite sides of the terminal head 12 so as to carry away the cooling liquid which has been heated during its passage through the welding gun and welding cable 10.

The terminal head 11 (or 12) consists of a pair of terminals 17 and 18 (Figures 1 and 2) of approximately semi-circular cross-section and having flattened end portions 19 and 2t) respectively providing terminal connections 21 and 22. The latter are connected to a conventional welding gun (not shown) by means of a bolt or other fastener inserted through aligned holes 23 and 24 in the llattened portions 19 and 20.

The terminals 17 and 18 within the terminal heads 11 and 12 have smooth external surfaces 25 and 26 of halt cylindrical shape and are also provided with flat inner surfaces 27 and 28 which are electrically separated from one another by an insulating strip 29. The latter at its inner end is connected as at 30 to an insulating member or barrier 31 which has an elongated cross-section (Figure 4) with a relatively thin central portion and relatively thick opposite edge portions somewhat resembling an hour-glass or dumb-bell in cross-section. The insulating member 31 separates the two welding current conductors or banks 32 and 33 of opposite polarity throughout their lengths. The insulating strip 29 is bored as at 34 for the passage of the same bolt which passes through the aligned holes 23 and 24 to connect the terminal head 11 to the welding gun. *mi

Each of the welding current conductors 32 and 33 is formed of a very large number of fine strands of wire, usually of copper, which are twisted together into cordlike members 35 (Figure 4). These in turn are twisted together spirally to form stranded conductors 36 and 37 of relatively large diameter opposite the thin central portion 38 of the insulating member 31. Certain of the strands are twisted into smaller cord-like members 39 which are in turn twisted spirally together to form smaller stranded conductors 40 and 41 respectively located on and 37 and likewise on opposite sides of the enlarged portions 42 of the barrier or insulating member 31.

The free ends 43 and 44 of the welding current conductors or banks 32 and 33 are mounted in recesses or openings 45 and 46-(Figures l and.3) of approximatelycrescent-shaped cross-section which are bounded on their inner sides by curved walls 47 and 48 andare preferably cast. The walls 47Y and 48 are originally at, but are curved'to their shapes shown in Figure 3 when the cable bank ends 43' and 44 are secured in the openings 45 and 46 in a manner similar to that described in columnv 3, line 54 to column 4, line 17 andillustrated in Figure 8 of the Wreford Patent 2,504,777V whichV issued April 1S, l95() for Welding Cable. When this is done, soft solder is placed in the pockets 49 or 50 adjacent the openings 45 or 46 and the terminal 1.7. or 18. is placed in a press and heated as shown in Figure 8. of the above Wreford Patent 2,504,777. Pressure is then. exerted upon the wall 47 or 43 to bend it into the curved position shown in Figure 3.

While this is being done, the solder melts, and flows through the interstices between the. strands of the ne wires. The pressure resulting from the bending of the walls 47 and 48 into their curved positions (Figure 3) forces the strandsV of the welding conductors 32 and 33 together into compact masses. The solder is of course used in connection with a ilux, such as rosin, which dissolves t'ne oxide from the wires and the pressure, exerted by any suitable plunger, sinters the wires together in copper-tocopper union. When the solder creeps through the opposite end of the conductor 32 or 33 adjacent the inner ends of the walls 47 or 48, this indicates that a sucient amount of solder has been applied. The solder also subsequently prevents corrosion at these locations. A pressure in the neighborhood of'twenty tons is pref.- erably employed for this purpose. Cooling liquid is pref# lerably applied to the conductors 32 and 33"while this is being done in order to prevent them from. heating up to their annealing temperatures.

In order to cool the terminal heads 11 and 12 and the conductors 32 and 33 within the cable 10, and also to cool the welding gun attached thereto, the terminals 17 and 18 are provided with transverse passageways 51 and 52 (Figures l and 2) which extend in opposite directions and are threaded as at 53 and 54'for connection to the cooling liquid lines 13,15 or 16 (Figure 7). The inner ends of the transverse passageways 51 and'52 are connected to the ends ofV longitudinal liquid passageways 55 and 56 leading to the pockets 49 and 50 respectively. The curving of the walls 47 and- 48 (Figures l and 3) results in the provision of liquid passageways 57 and 58 leading from the pockets 49 and 50 into the interior of the cable 10. The insulating strip 34 is provided with a hole 59 (Figure l) interconnecting the pockets 49 and 50 so that cooling liquid may pass freely therebetween.

The cable 1@ is encased in a tubular sheath or casing 60 of insulating material, such as rubber or synthetic rubber, and this is clamped to the cable terminal heads 11 or 12 in any suitable manner, such as by the clamping rings 61 (Figure l). The insulating member or barrier 31 divides the interior of the cable 10y into two chambers 63 and 64 containing the welding conductors 32 and 33 respectively. The insulating barrier 31 has a very loose tit within the sheath 60 (Figure4) so that liquid may pass between the innerwall 62'of the sheathv 60 and the adjacent outer edgel portions 42 of thei barrier 31 from the chamber 63 to the chamber 64 and vice versa.V

The inner endportions 65 and 66 of the terminals' 17 and 18 (Figure 1) areiared outwardly as at 67 and 68 respectively in curved surfaces, preferably of hyperbolic longitudinal. section. This construction minimizes the breakage of the strands ofthe conductors 32 and 33 which ordinarily occurs adjacent the terminal heads of welding cables,.by eliminating sharpedgesV which might serve as fulcrums, and insuring that the portions thereof adjacent the ared surfaces 67 and 68 bend gradually and evenly as the cable 10 itself is bent during handling.

The appearance of the cables 36, 37, 39 and 41 in Figure 4 is purposely exaggerated to show the manner in which the sets of three cables each are united to form the welding conductors 32 and 33 respectively. In actual practice, these cables are larger in diameter and are not spaced apart from one another to the extent shown in Figure 4, but till the chambers 63 and 64 more fully thanY Figure 4 shows. There is still suicient space, however, for the cooling liquid to travel through the cable.

In the operation of the invention, assuming that a conventional welding gunhasbeen connected to the terminal head 11, the cooling liquid supply line 13 (Figure 7) is connected to a source of cooling water or other cooling liquid, the current is turned on and welding operations are conducted in the usual manner. The cooling liquid passes from the liquid supply line 13 through the passageways: 51 andSS: ofi the terminal head 11 into the pocket 49, thence.. through the Y passageway 57 into the chamber. 63'surrounding and containing the conductor 32. Atithesame time', a portion ofthe cooling liquid passes throughithe hole 59to the opposite side of the terminal headand. continuesvthrough the passageway 58 into the chamber 64.surrounding and containing the conductor 33. The'liquidpa'sses lengthwise-.through the chambers 63 and 64 to the-opposite end: ofthe cablel where it enters the terminal head 12. As. previously stated, the latter is of similar; construction-to the terminal head 11.

The ow ofJthe electric welding current through the conductors 32. and. 33 heats upvthe individual strands of limewire of which these are composed, and since the weldingcurrentisordinarily 60 cycle alternating current, the fluctuation thereof causes the wire strands to move apart and together alternately in rapid succession. rl`his action. moves theVV cooling: water in and out through the interstices between the strands, carrying away the heat and preventing damage to the cable 10. At the same time, theheatedlcooling. liquid returning from thewelding gun throughLthe. conduit 15' passesV through the passageways 541and.56. into the pocket 50, thence through the passageway 58 into the chamber 64 within the cable sheath 60, and accompaniesthe: other cooling liquid in its course lengthwise. through. the cable 10. Some of the cooling liquid flowspast the edge portions 42 of the insulating memberor barrier 31. between the chambers 63 and 64. The' heated cooling liquid passes outward through the passagewaysSS, 56-to the terminal head 12 into the cooling liquid discharge line 16. The cooling liquid ordi narily employedis'ordinary tap water which, on account ofits low electrical conductivity, prevents. short-circuiting of the welding conductors, which are carrying the welding current of low' voltagebut high amperage.

The modification shownl in Figures 5 and 6 is generally similar in construction and operation to the principal form of the invention shown in Figures l to 4 inclusive and is similarly connected as in Figure 7. Similar parts of Figures 5 and 6 are therefore similarly designated to the corresponding parts in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive. Positive cooling of .the conductors 32 and 33 in Figures 5 and 6, however, is insured by means of flexible conduits 70 and 71vrespectively arranged within the conductors 32 and 33, theconductors. beingwound around their respective conduits during manufacture. The flexible conduits 70 and 71 are preferably formed of spirally wound stock, so that their side walls are permeable to liquid which can push its way out through' the: spiral interstices between the spirally wound wires 72 and 73 making up the side walls of the conduits70' and 71.` At the same time, however, these intersticesY are so narrow in width that they effectively bar theentry of any splinters of wire strands which, may be broken olf from the individual wires of which the conductors 32 and-33 are made up. In this manner, the splinters, are prevented from clogging the cooling lines, and the flexibility of the conduits 70 and 71 enables the cable to be bent freely without interfering with the ow of the cooling liquid.

In actual practice, the cables 36, 37, 39 and 41 will not be of circular cross-section as shown in Figure 4, after they have been assembled. After assembly, these cables will latten out and their strands will almost cornpletely fill the space within the cable sheath 60. The strands, however, leave sutlicient spaces for the passage of the cooling water between them.

In actual practice, also, the entire internal assembly is twisted bodily, including the insulating member or barrier 31. This is done in a machine which twists the internal assembly while assembling the conductors alongside the insulating member 31. The twisting may take place at any desired interval, a complete turn every 9 inches being found satisfactory. This twisting imparts ilexibility to the cable which it would not otherwise easily possess, due to the resistance of the insulating member 31 to twisting in the direction of its edges. The cable 10 of the present invention is also especially well adapted to the use of a binder strap 61a (Figure 5) in place of the clamping rings 61, because the surfaces 25 and 26 are on relatively thick and strong portions of the terminals where they serve as anvils for sustaining heavy pressure. For this reason, the clamping rings 61 or bands 61a may be clamped more tightly than in prior welding cables because such prior cables were structurally Weak at the locations where the clamping rings were attached. Certain of these prior cables, for example, attached the cable sheaths to a short section of structurally weak brass tubing. The present construction enables a stronger connection to be made and also prevents leakage of the cooling water at such connections.

What is claimed is:

l. In a process of making a welding cable, forming a pair of elongated cable head terminals of approximately semi-cylindrical shape with a substantially ilat inner surface on each terminal and with a cable conductor socket of substantially semi-cylindrical cross-section at the rearward end of each terminal and with a cooling liquid passageway communicating therewith, inserting in each of said sockets one end of a welding current conductor composed of ne wire strands, placing against an abutment the curved outer side wall of each terminal outside its socket opposite the inner side wall of said socket, applying suicient lateral pressure to said inner side wall of said socket to bend said inner side wall from a substantially flat shape into an approximately arcuately concave shape so as to force said inner side wall of each socket tightly into engagement with said conductor end while maintaining said curved outer side wall against said abutment and thereby reshape the substantially ilat inner surface of each terminal into a partly tlat and partly concave surface, and assembling the conductor-connected terminals with their partly flat and partly concave surfaces disposed in face-to-face engagement with a ilatsided strip of insulating material placed therebetween, whereby the concaving of the socket inner side walls cooperates with the substantially flat-sided insulating strip to provide cooling liquid passageways therebetween.

2. In a process of making a welding cable, forming a pair of elongated cable head terminals of approximately semi-cylindrical shape with a substantially at inner surface on each terminal and with a cable conductor socket of substantially semi-cylindrical cross-section at the rearward end of each terminal and with a cooling liquid passageway communicating therewith, inserting in each of said sockets one end of a welding current conductor composed of line wire strands, supplying solder to the end of said conductor in said socket, placing against an abutment the curved outer side wall of each terminal outside its socket opposite the inner side wall of said socket, applying heat to melt said solder and infiltrate said solder into the interstices of said strands, applying sucient lateral pressure to said inner side wall of said socket to bend said inner side wall from a substantially flat shape into an approximately arcuately-concave shape so as to force said inner side wall of each socket tightly into engagement with said conductor end while maintaining said curved outer side wall against said abutment and thereby reshape the substantially flat inner surface of each terminal into a partly at and partly concave surface, and assembling the conductor-connected terminals with their partly ilat and partly concave surfaces disposed in faceto-face engagement with a at-sided strip of insulating material placed therebetween, whereby the concaving of the socket inner side walls cooperates with the substantially Hat-sided insulating strip to provide cooling liquid passageways therebetween.

3. In a process of making a welding cable, forming a pair of elongated cable head terminals of approximately semi-cylindrical shape with a substantially flat inner surface on each terminal and with a cable conductor socket of substantially semi-cylindrical cross-section at the rearward end of each terminal and with a cooling liquid passageway communicating therewith, inserting in each of said sockets one end of a welding current conductor cornposed of ne wire strands, supplying solder to the end of said conductor in said socket, placing against an abutment the curved outer side wall of each terminal outside its socket opposite the inner side wall of said socket, applying heat to melt said solder and infiltrate said solder into the interstices of said strands, applying suicient lateral pressure to said inner side wall of said socket to bend said inner side wall from a substantially at shape into an approximately arcuately-concave shape so as to force said inner side wall of each socket tightly into engagement with said conductor end while maintaining said curved outer side wall against said abutment and thereby reshape the substantially flat inner surface of each terminal into a partly flat and partly concave surface, assembling the conductor-connected terminal with their partly flat and partly concave surfaces disposed in face-to-face engagement with a at-sided strip of insulating material placed therebetween, whereby the concaving of the socket inner side walls cooperates with the substantially flat-sided insulating strip to provide cooling liquid passageways therebetween, and applying a coolant medium to the conductor adjacent its socket-inserted end while applying the heat to said socket-inserted end.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,959,150 Basch et al. May 15, 1934 2,109,837 Davis Mar. l, 1938 2,473,879 Guarnaschelli June 2l, 1949 2,494,137 Martines Jan, l0, 1950 2,504,777 Wreford Apr. 18, 1950 

